C. Michael Lavin

STERLING – C. Michael Lavin, 66, of Tuttle Rd., died unexpectedly at his home Monday, May 21, 2012. Raised in

Bolton, Mike was the son of Lt. Col. Clement M. and Eleanor M.

(Hansen) Lavin, and lived 29 years in Sterling.

Mike graduated from Nashoba Regional High School and received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Boston College in 1969. He was an Air Force pilot and 2nd lieutenant during the Vietnam War, 1969-71. He taught industrial arts at Hamilton- Wenham Regional High School and later worked at Nypro in Clinton. In 1986, he started his own cabinetry business in Sterling, retiring in 2007.

In 1983, he built his home on Tuttle Road. An accomplished painter, he presented landscape painting demonstrations entitled “Oil Painting in an Hour” at senior living centers throughout Worcester County.

His passion later in life was model trains and historically replicating the Sterling Railroad Depot (circa 1915) and a 1911 rendition of Union Station in Worcester. An amateur historian, Mike took great pride in constructing buildings and fixtures surrounding railroad stations representing specific eras. He was in the final stages of his Union Station Model planned to be displayed indefinitely at Union Station in Worcester in the fall.

Mike assisted in coaching the Wachusett Pop Warner Football League and the Wachusett Mountaineers. He devoted many years to the study of theology. He was a member of Saint Cecilia Church in Leominster where he taught CCD and lectured. He was also a member of the Leominster Art Association.

He is survived by his wife and best friend of 33 years, Pamela M. (Mason) Lavin; two sons, Michael “Mitch” A. Lavin and Jeffrey T. Lavin, both of Worcester; a daughter, Jamie Lavin of Quincy; three sisters, Christine Kemp of Basalt, Col., JoAnn DuMoulin of White River Jct., Vt., and Cynthia Lavin- Warden of Rhode Island; several nephews and nieces; and numerous friends he regarded as family.

The funeral was May 26 at Saint Cecilia Church followed by interment at Hillside Cemetery in Sterling. Memorial donations may be made to Saint Cecilia Church’s Restoration Fund, 180 Mechanic St., Leominster, MA 01543, or St. John’s Church, Food for the Poor, 44 Temple St., Worcester, MA 01604 (stjohnsfoodforthepoor.org). Miles-Sterling Funeral and Tribute Center, Sterling, directed arrangements. (milesfuneralhome.com)